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Bills Today | Why familiarity was important to Buffalo during free agency

Maddy Glab

Multi-media journalist

1. Beane shares why familiarity was important during free agency

Buffalo's general manager Brandon Beane spoke to the media on Thursday to detail the Bills moves in free agency, outlook on the draft and how COVID-19 has impacted it all. Due to the offseason in flux, Beane wanted to target players he or his staff are familiar with in order to get them up to speed quickly, specifically on defense.

"I know everybody always talks about Panther people to Buffalo, but it's really more about people and familiarity," Beane said. "That went into bringing E.J. Gaines back. E.J. knows the defense, he knows what's expected. We know that he can come right in and do that."

With the chance of having a shortened offseason, it's also helpful to have position coaches who are familiar with players and the system. Beane explained new defensive line coach Eric Washington, who coached in Carolina from 2011 to 2019, will be key in helping the new defensive players on the line.

"We made a change to have a guy like Eric who's coached in this system as a d-line coach and was a coordinator, now is back as a d-line coach," Beane said. "He coached Star [Lotulelei] as a rookie, Vernon Butler, Mario Addison. These guys are going to know how Eric operates. They're going to be able to walk in on day one like it's not day one."

2. Beane: I'm confident in Josh and who he is

Quarterback Josh Allen will play a big part in helping the Bills offense score more points in 2020, which is something Beane and head coach Sean McDermott said they needed to address in the offseason. With an offensive line that Allen knows, an offensive coordinator he has chemistry with and a new weapon in Stefon Diggs, Beane thinks Allen is set up to improve in year three.

"I'm just confident in Josh and who he is," Beane said. "He is not going to leave a stone unturned. He's his own worst critic. I know he has many critics out there. Some which I just think are way off base. I am confident, Sean's confident, our team is confident. I think our fans and everyone else should be confident in Josh Allen."

Beane wishes Allen and Diggs could be together working on their chemistry, but knows Allen is on track to take steps forward due to his offseason training.

"Just like he took a big step from year one to year two, he will continue to grow," Beane said. "Ideally, I wish he and Stefon were able to throw right now. That's not available, but I know he will figure it out - how to make improvements to some of the things that didn't go perfect for him last year. Again, I thought he took some great strides. He's looking forward to taking that next step and proving any of the doubters are naysayers wrong."

The Kaleida Health Foundation is hosting a week-long online fundraiser for their COVID-19 Response Fund. It's called the Covathon and begins on April 3 and goes through April 10.

One of the several events taking place that week is an online auction. By bidding, you will have a chance to win several Buffalo Bills and Sabres items. A few premier items include four Bills tickets with pregame field passes and an autographed Josh Allen jersey. To see all the events that will take place you can visit livecovathon.com. All proceeds go to the Kaleida Health Foundation's COVID-19 Response Fund.

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